CONCORD, NH – A New Hampshire man has pleaded guilty to criminal mischief A threatening phone call to a member of Congress was sentenced Thursday in federal court to three years of probation.
Allan Poller was a Keene State College student last March when he was accused of calling the office of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and leaving a message with his name and phone number: “If you keep coming for gays, we’re going to strike. back” and “If we have to, we’ll kill you.” The representative has not been identified.
Poller, 24, pleaded guilty in October to using interstate commerce to transmit a threat of injury. He told authorities he had been drinking and left the message after becoming enraged while watching TikTok videos.
Prosecutors and Poller’s attorney preferred probation. He was also fined $500, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Poller “used the catastrophic impact of his actions as a catalyst to begin a new path in his life,” according to a sentencing memorandum written by his attorney. “He has strengthened his bond with his family and has fully embraced being reinstated.”
Prosecutors noted that Poller “is a young man who has faced dramatic challenges in his life but has had no prior involvement with the criminal justice system. “He has already faced serious consequences as a result of his behavior, arrest and claim in this case.”